Task Force Calls for Increased Authority for RHS to Preserve All Properties in Section 515 Portfolio

摘要

An industry task force on rural rental housing preservation called for the Administration and Congress to give the Rural Housing Service (RHS) greater authority over prepayments and transfers to preserve Section 515 housing. In its final report released April 7, the task force also called for action to preserve all Section 515 properties needed in their communities and to protect their low-and very-low-income tenants against displacement. The task force was convened last August by the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) and National Housing Law Project to address the need to preserve Section 515 housing. (For background, see Current Developments, Vol 32, No. CD-18, p. 550.) More than 550,000 Section 515 units have been produced, but loans on more than 50,000 units have been prepaid, and the number is expected to accelerate, while the age and condition of the inventory threaten its viability and Congress has cut its funding dramatically over the past 10 years, causing few new units to be built, the report states.